Enforcing community penalties: the relationship between enforcement and reconviction

In England, for those serving a community penalty who do not comply with the conditions, enforcement consists of a series of warning letters. The warning letters can culminate in a breach proceeding. As May and Wadwell remark, enforcement of community penalties is important in maintaining the confidence of the courts and the public in community sentences as a form of punishment. In this document, they report on a study which examined the effect of enforcement on reconviction rates in certain areas of England in 1996. With certain qualifications, the study demonstrated that enforcement action does reduce the rate of reconviction.